Former Pirates banding back together

Ruffin McNeill's coaching career has carried him from North Carolina to California, Texas and back.

Now, the Lumberton native is heading to national power Oklahoma, where he'll reunite with his former East Carolina offensive coordinator, Lincoln Riley.

Riley, who was named last week to succeed retiring Bob Stoops as the Sooners head man, announced Wednesday he's bringing McNeill aboard as his assistant head and defensive tackles coach.

McNeill was Riley's boss from 2010 to 2014 before the latter was hired away by Stoops in January 2015 to direct Oklahoma's offense.

McNeill, 58, has worked as defensive line coach at Virginia since being dismissed by ECU after the 2015 season. He compiled a 42-34 record with the Pirates in six seasons.

Riley contacted Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall on Monday to get permission to reach out to McNeill.

Things moved fast from that point, McNeill said in a telephone interview Wednesday evening. After talking the situation over with his wife, Erlene, McNeill decided to accept Riley's offer to come West.

“I think being part of this with Lincoln is recharging,'' McNeill said.

“I was charged up to work with Bronco, and get it done in the ACC and build that organization. But the chance to work with Lincoln again, plus I've been recruiting this area for 10 years, all those things combined made it a good situation.''

McNeill flew to Norman, Oklahoma, on Tuesday to finalize the deal.

Riley, who was named Oklahoma's 22nd head coach last Wednesday, received his first big coaching break when McNeill brought him to East Carolina from Texas Tech, where both had worked as assistants.

Riley implemented the “Air Raid'' offense he learned under Texas Tech's Mike Leach at ECU and the Pirates became a formidable scoring team. Record-setting receivers Justin Hardy and Zay Jones developed in the system, as did quarterback Shane Carden.

When named as Stoops' successor last week, Riley credited McNeill as one of the coaches who had most impacted his career.

“I'm very excited that Ruffin McNeill is joining our coaching staff," Riley said in a statement released by the school Wednesday.

"Personally, I have a great history with him from our time together at Texas Tech and East Carolina. We're getting an extremely high-quality person and coach. Our team and fans will love the personality and energy he'll bring to our program.

“Ruffin possesses a distinguished record defensively, and I'm excited to see him work alongside defensive coordinator Mike Stoops and the rest of our staff on that side of the ball. I view defensive line as one of the most important, if not the most important, position groups on the field, and he'll be a big benefit to our student-athletes and to our program as a whole.''

McNeill won 10 varsity letters during a distinguished career at Lumberton High School between 1975-76.

He was an all-conference pick in football, basketball and track as a senior before heading to East Carolina where he was a three-year starter in the secondary and two-time team captain.

McNeill is returning to the Big 12 Conference where he spent 10 seasons working at Texas Tech. But this time he lands at one of college football's most storied programs. The Sooners have won seven national championships, the third-most in Football Bowl Subdivision history.

“Every job is pressure,'' McNeill said. “But real pressure is when you make $1,000 a month and your bills are $1,100. That's real pressure. This is a fun kind of pressure.''

Virginia's Mendenhall praised McNeill for his efforts in his only season with the Cavaliers.

"Ruffin McNeill is one of the best people, not only in the world of coaching, but also in the world, period," Mendenhall said. "I've really enjoyed his friendship, the exchange of ideas and the camaraderie that we've had together. Ruff has amazing relationships with anyone he's met. He's got a great football mind. I am appreciative of all the work he put in helping us to begin to make Virginia an excellent football program."

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